Newfoundland and Labrador paid Teladoc $23Mn for virtual care
- The province’s health authority had paid Teladoc about C$32.1 million ($23Mn) by April 30.
- The original two-year contract, announced in November 2023, was worth C$22 million ($15.7Mn).
- As of May, Teladoc was operating in 10 emergency rooms and four urgent care centers.
- Officials are preparing a call for proposals from virtual care providers for a new deal.
ST. JOHN’S, CANADA — Newfoundland and Labrador’s provincial health authority is preparing to seek a new virtual care contract after paying private provider Teladoc about C$32.1 million ($23Mn) since late 2023.
The money covered virtual primary care for people without family doctors and virtual physicians for emergency rooms and urgent care centers.
A contract that kept growing
The health authority first announced a two-year agreement with Teladoc in November 2023 worth C$22 million ($15.7Mn), The Canadian Press reported in a story published by CBC News on Oct. 22. The plan was for Teladoc to serve five emergency rooms and expand as needed.
As of May, Teladoc was operating in 10 emergency rooms and four urgent care centers across the province, health authority spokesperson Mikaela Etchegary said. Payments reached C$32.1 million as of April 30.
The contract has since been extended into this fall. Officials are now preparing a call for proposals from virtual care providers to sign a new deal, Etchegary said.
Authority defends virtual coverage
“Virtual emergency support has proven to be an effective solution for maintaining access to urgent and emergency care in communities where physician coverage challenges may otherwise impact the availability of local services,” Etchegary said.
“As always, every effort is made to arrange in-person coverage before virtual coverage is used,” she said.
Doctors call it a symptom
Dr. David Metcalfe, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association (NLMA), said the expansion of Teladoc’s services is a symptom of an unsolved doctor shortage.
“Virtual care was never intended to replace a patient’s access to their own family physician or become a permanent substitute for emergency care,” Metcalfe said.
Teladoc’s expansion into more communities is “not a sign of success, and it’s not the standard patients should expect in a modern health-care system,” he added.
A stopgap in rural communities
Teladoc provides virtual urgent care at the U.S. Memorial Health Centre in St. Lawrence. Mayor Kevin Pittman said having a nurse on site helps, but he called the service a stopgap measure.
“Especially when you have a community that’s more than 60 per cent senior citizens who’ve grown up seeing a doctor,” Pittman said.
What it means for providers
The coming call for proposals opens the province’s virtual emergency and primary care work to competing bids after Teladoc’s contract was extended.
Providers weighing telehealth and healthcare outsourcing bids there face a buyer that says it arranges in-person coverage first. OA’s top BPO companies in Canada list is a starting point for comparing partners.
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Disclosure: Outsource Accelerator uses AI tools in the backend of its editorial workflow. Every article is reviewed and verified by a human editor before publication.
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